By Nick Simonson Business End To complete the rig, tie on a chosen hook or jig.  There are many options that can be fished under a slip float for all sorts of species.  An octopus hook in size 2 or 4 works well for walleyes, and smaller hooks like the size 6 will do the…

By Cara Greger While taking a walk at the Belfield “Dam” Park (some locals told me they want to change the name, but my kids and I kind of like it), my ten-year-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever Muffin and I were looking at last year’s prairie skeletons. 2022 must have been a good moisture year for…

NDG&F Release A total of 47,590 North Dakota deer hunters took approximately 25,093 deer during the 2022 deer gun hunting season, according to a post-season survey conducted by the state Game and Fish Department, down from 57,086 hunters and 32,793 harvested deer in the 2021 firearms season. Game and Fish made available 64,200 deer gun…

By Doug Leier While working the Outdoors Show in winter one of the more frequent discussions centered on electronic posting of private land for hunting.  For example, one landowner didn’t appreciate a neighboring hunter/landowner accessing land left unposted by others before returning to hunt his own posted property. While few would support the morality of…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s paddlefish season opens May 1, and snaggers should note that the sale and distribution of tags are similar to last year. Paddlefish tags are available for purchase online at the Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov, at license vendors, and during normal business hours at Game and Fish offices in Bismarck,…

By Mike Peluso With the winter we had I was hoping Mother Nature would have at least given us a little break this spring. Unfortunately, she has other plans. As of April 16, the Knife River, Heart River and all the smaller tributaries are roaring. The Knife is the number one culprit of the muddy…

NDG&F Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 2022 bighorn sheep survey, completed by recounting lambs in March, revealed a record 347 bighorn sheep in the grasslands of western North Dakota, up 4% from 2021 and 15% above the five-year average. The count surpassed the previous record of 335 bighorns in 2021. Altogether, biologists…

By Nick Simonson Spring brings with it a change in the air, and where rain begins to pour down to bring those May flowers out on the landscape and fill the banks of streams, ponds and lakes with a recharge of something other than snow, so too come other additions to those waters.  Stocked trout…

By Nick Simonson While spring has just arrived and most of the region’s lakes remain ice covered, and only a few rivers have broken free of winter’s grasp completely, it’s hard not to think about the gamest fish that swims – the smallmouth bass.  When the water warms, smallies become more aggressive, and with their…

By Nick Simonson As rivers open with a swell of meltwater, bringing the first openwater fishing action of the season, anglers are hooking up their boats and heading out. With that spring rush of angling excitement comes watercraft traveling across the North Dakota prairie between those first open rivers and then the lakes as the…

By Doug Leier I’ve always appreciated the complexities of nature, including the connection of individual fish and wildlife species to food, water, space and where they call home. If you hunt upland game, the importance of grassland habitat and pollinators is mutual to game and hunters. Much of the information the North Dakota Game and…

By Mike Peluso There is a lot happening here in the Bismarck, North Dakota stretch of the Missouri River. As of April 8, the ice in town has finally moved out and I would anticipate Fox Island boat ramp being opened up shortly. As far as my guiding is going, we are getting on the…

By Nick Simonson A full 30 inches of snow drift lined the banks of the small creek just down the road from the cabin in drifts that clung to and overhung its edges.  Under the heating sun of mid-morning, however, they had already begun to add to it from the white extensions dripping meltwater, making…

By Nick Simonson One of the earliest fish providing anglers a warm water experience is the bluegill.  From small ponds to the shallows of big lakes, sunnies look skyward for any of the season’s first insects to hit the surface for an easy snack.  Likewise, anglers looking to connect with those rises on the fly…

By Doug Leier  I don’t remember the year I bought my first North Dakota fishing license online. I intentionally tried to block it out with respect to an ongoing tradition. Prior to that, my first initial trip of the spring included a stop at the gas station for some worms, Diet Mountain Dew, my fishing…

By Nick Simonson Following an early April snowstorm and continued cold conditions across much of central and eastern North Dakota, concerns for extensive winterkill events on many lakes, particularly those in the southeastern portion of the state, continue to grow.  As of March 24, the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) listed 85 waters…

By Mike Peluso I’m glad I took a little drive up River Road north of Bismarck this morning. Rumor had it the Wilton Boat Ramp on the Missouri River had recently been opened.  Burleigh County equipment has not been in there yet. However, the city of Washburn has! That boat ramp is open and ready…

By Nick Simonson One of the earliest fish available to anglers, even in the latest of springs, is the crappie.  They’re ubiquitous, found on flows of all sorts from small farm ponds and mesotrophic rivers of the Dakota prairies, to the wandering chains of lakes in Minnesota.  In the latter state, where pike and walleye…

By Nick Simonson ‘Twas the night before first ice, and all through the lake, Not a fish had been stirring, not even a splake. The buckets were filled with my rods and my tackle, In hopes that the perch would like jigs trimmed with hackle. The tip-ups were strung with nylon and leaders, To deal…

By Doug Leier From deer to ducks and pike to perch, hunters and anglers must take only their own daily limit or fill their own deer tag. For as long as I can remember, party hunting, group fishing or any other way to describe it has never been legal in the state. In North Dakota…

By Mike Peluso I really don’t want to be talking about ice fishing yet, but Mother Nature definitely had other plans for us here in North Dakota. It is hard for me to believe we were open water fishing a week ago in 70 degree weather and now we have 2 feet of snow on…

By Nick Simonson Southeastern North Dakota finds itself in a familiar spot heading into an ice fishing season which may have been jumpstarted by cold conditions descending on the region in this second week of November. As hardwater sets up, ice anglers will likely find good fishing on the area’s major destinations and plenty of…

By Nick Simonson From across a golden field of fall CRP grasses, or bounding through the leafless November brush on a steep hillside, it’s easy to see the arching back-and-forth following a whitetail deer in full flight.  Their name says it all and that white flag on their rear end typically does too.  From the…

By Nick Simonson When your biggest brag to your constituents to lead off campaign season is an advertisement about driving 80,000 miles in four years – while not mentioning you get a $250,000 annual budget in taxpayer dollars for staff and travel – there’s something wrong with your priorities.  In the case of North Dakota’s…

By Doug Leier In any given year about 100,000 individuals put in for the regular deer gun lottery. Safe to say, even if you don’t deer hunt there’s someone in your house, at work or next door that either will be deer hunting or wishes they were. When it comes to deer hunting safety (or…

By Nick Simonson The video represents not only landowner-sportsman relations at its lowest point, it also comes when communication among people in general has seemingly reached its nadir.  In the now infamous clip that runs longer than it takes me to walk my dogs around the block, the landowner lobs more cursewords in that span…

By Nick Simonson If I could find a way to zap a pheasant in the air without killing it, to have a second or two to hold it and look over its feathers and admire their sheen and the length of the tail growing late into the season before it wakes up and takes flight…

By Mike Peluso I can’t believe the open water guide season may be coming to a close. The long-range weather forecast isn’t looking good. However, I’m holding out hope to possibly get some nice days toward the end of November yet. I was fortunate enough to fish Sakakawea the last few days and also the…

By Nick Simonson When it comes to fast moving water, or big fish lurking below the school, nothing gets an angler down to business like the addition of a heavy, flashy bead at the front of a fly.  Whether it is a rapidly flowing stream harboring trout in deeper pockets or tucked into the slow…

By Doug Leier Going back to my beginning with the Game and Fish Department as a game warden, the common questions surrounding deer season haven’t changed that much. Neither have the answers. Which say’s a lot about North Dakota’s deer hunting heritage. The 60,000-plus hunters are passionate about the time-honored tradition and want to know…